HEIRS OF TIMOTEO MORENO v.

MACTAN - CEBU INTERNATIONAL

AIRPORT AUTHORITY, GR No. 156273, 2003-10-15

Facts:

THE HEIRS OF TIMOTEO MORENO AND MARIA ROTEA, petitioners herein,

are the successors-in-interest of the former registered owners of two (2)
parcels of land situated in Lahug, Cebu City,... In 1949 the National
Airport Corporation as the predecessor agency of respondent Mactan-
Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) wanted to acquire Lots Nos.
916 and 920 above described among other parcels of land for the
proposed expansion of Lahug Airport.

To entice the landowners to cede their properties, the government

assured them that they could repurchase their lands once Lahug Airport
was closed or its operations transferred to Mactan Airport.

On 29 December 1961 the trial court promulgated its Decision in Civil

Case No. R-1881 condemning Lots Nos. 916 and 920 and other lots for
public use upon payment of just compensation.

At the end of 1991, or soon after the transfer of Lots Nos. 916 and 920 to
MCIAA, Lahug Airport ceased operations as the Mactan Airport was
opened for incoming and outgoing flights.

In fact, no expansion of Lahug Airport was undertaken by MCIAA and its

predecessors-in-interest.[10] Hence, petitioners wrote then President
Fidel V. Ramos and the airport manager begging them for... the exercise
of their alleged right to repurchase Lots Nos. 916 and 920.[11] Their pleas
were not heeded.

On 11 March 1997 petitioners filed a complaint for reconveyance and

damages with RTC of Cebu City against respondent MCIAA to compel the
repurchase of Lots Nos. 916 and 920, docketed as Civil Case No. CEB-
20015.

On 12 April 1999 the trial court found merit in the claims of petitioners
and granted them the right to repurchase the properties at the amount
pegged as just compensation in Civil Case No. R-1881 but subject to the
alleged property rights of Richard E. Enchuan and the leasehold... of
DPWH.

Respondent MCIAA appealed the Decision of the trial court to the Court of
Appeals

On 20 December 2001 the Court of Appeals reversed the assailed

Decision on the ground that the judgment of condemnation in Civil Case
No. R-1881 was unconditional so that the rights gained therefrom by
respondent MCIAA were indicative of ownership in fee... simple.

Issues:

Petitioners argue that Fery v. Municpality of Cabanatuan does not apply

to the case at bar since what was involved therein was the "right of
reversion" and not the "right of repurchase" which they are invoking.

Respondent asserts that the Decision in Civil Case No. R-1881 is absolute
and without conditions, thus, no repurchase could be validly... exercised.

Ruling:

In Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority, respondent Chiongbian

sought to enforce an alleged right of repurchase over her properties that
had been expropriated in Civil Case No. R-1881. This Court did not allow
her to adduce evidence of her claim, for to do so would... unsettle as to
her properties the judgment of condemnation in the eminent domain
proceedings.

Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority[36] is correct in stating that

one would not find an express statement in the Decision in Civil Case No.
R-1881 to the effect that "the [condemned] lot would return to [the
landowner] or that [the landowner]... had a right to repurchase the same if
the purpose for which it was expropriated is ended or abandoned or if the
property was to be used other than as the Lahug Airport."

No doubt, the return or repurchase of the condemned properties of

petitioners could be readily justified as the manifest legal effect or
consequence... of the trial court's underlying presumption that "Lahug
Airport will continue to be in operation" when it granted the complaint for
eminent domain and the airport discontinued its activities.

In the case at bar, petitioners conveyed Lots Nos. 916 and

920 to the government with the latter obliging itself to use the realties for
the expansion of Lahug Airport; failing to keep its bargain, the
government can be compelled by petitioners to reconvey the parcels of
land to them, otherwise, petitioners would be denied the use of... their
properties upon a state of affairs that was not conceived nor
contemplated when the expropriation was authorized.

Hence, respondent MCIAA as representative of the State is obliged to

reconvey Lots Nos. 916 and 920 to petitioners who shall hold the same
subject to existing liens thereon, i.e., leasehold right of DPWH.
WHEREFORE, the instant Petition for Review is GRANTED. The Decision of
the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 64456 dated 20 December 2001
and its Resolution of 28 November 2002 denying reconsideration of the
Decision are REVERSED and SET

ASIDE.